A rapidly growing brush fire chewed through canyons of thick brush and palm trees in the San Diego College Area and Talmadge neighborhoods Thursday afternoon, damaging homes and prompting widespread evacuations.

The brush fire sparked around 1:30 p.m. on the south side of Montezuma Road — an area filled with old, dry palm trees, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesperson Monica Munoz — and quickly jumped the road and began spreading uphill.

A 40-acre brush fire burned southwest of the San Diego State University campus Thursday afternoon on Halloween.

San Diego, United States - October 31, 2024 A wildfire broke out near Montezuma Road and Fairmount Avenue in the College Area of San Diego, California, on Halloween Day, October 31, damaging several homes and forcing widespread evacuations and road closures.

All evacuation orders have been lifted in parts of San Diego after a brush fire erupted near the San Diego State University campus. T/Fairmount Fire had